Department of Far Eastern Studies Contents
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Department of Far Eastern Studies MORRILL HALL, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, NEW YORK ANNOUNCEMENT FOR 1952-53 SESSIONS Contents Officers and Staff, Department of Far Eastern Studies .... 2 Far Eastern Studies at Cornell U niversity .................................................... 4 Graduate Programs on China and Southeast A sia .......................................6 China Program ............................................................................................ 7 Southeast Asia Program ............................................................................... 9 Undergraduate Program in Far Eastern S tu d ie s .....................................12 Summary of Requirements of the Graduate S c h o o l .............................. 12 Courses of Instruction and Research................................................................14 Officers and Staff DEPARTMENT OF FAR EASTERN STUDIES Officers: Deane W. Malott, President of the University C. W. Jones, Dean of the Graduate School M. Lovell Hulse, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Knight BiggerstafF, Chairman of the Department Harold E. Shadick, Director of the China Program Lauriston Sharp, Director of the Southeast Asia Program Faculty: Knight BiggerstafF, Professor of Chinese History John F. Cady, Visiting Professor of Southeast Asian History Gussie E. Gaskill, Curator of the Wason Collection Lucien M. Hanks, Visiting Professor of Psychology Charles F. Hockett, Associate Professor of Linguistics George McT. Kahin, Assistant Professor of Government and Executive Director, Southeast Asia Program Morris E. Opler, Professor of Anthropology N. Allan Pattillo, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Edwin P. Reubens, Assistant Professor of Economics and Associate Director, South east Asia Program Harold E. Shadick, Professor of Chinese Literature Lauriston Sharp, Professor of Anthropology Cooperating Faculty from Other Departments: Herbert W. Briggs, Professor of International Law E. A. Burtt, Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy F. G. Marcham, Goldwin Smith Professor of History Hazel Hauck, Professor of Food and Nutrition Howard S. Thomas, Associate Professor of Rural Sociology Staff: J. Marvin Brown, Teaching Fellow in Thai Herbert M. Jackson, Research Associate in Linguistics (Vietnamese) Liu Chin-hsii, Teaching Fellow in Chinese G. William Skinner, Research Associate in Far Eastern Studies and Field Director, Southeast Asia Program Charlotte Smith, Library Assistant, Wason Collection Huynh Sanh Thong, Research Associate in Linguistics (Vietnamese) Wu Hsin-min, Teaching Assistant in Chinese Kathryn K. Hollenbach, Administrative Assistant, Southeast Asia Program Tazu A. Warner, Secretary to the Department Charles S. Brant, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Colgate University John F. Cady, Professor of History, Ohio University Teg C. Grondahl, Deputy Director, Office of International Information, Department of State VISITING LECTURERS, 1950-51 A ND 1951-52 O. Edmund Clubb, Director, Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State George B. Cressey, Maxwell Professor of Geography, Syracuse University E. H. G. Dobby, Professor of Geography, University of Malaya Lawrence S. Finkelstein, Institute of Pacific Relations Raymond J. de Jaegher, Maryknoll Mission in China. Shannon McCune, Professor of Geography, Colgate University Paul Mus, Professor of Far Eastern Civilization, College de France Randolph Sailor, Professor of Psychology, Yenching University Edwin F. Stanton, United States Ambassador to Thailand Luang Bisuddhibaedya Suriyabongse, M.D., Bangkok, Thailand Daisetz T. Suzuki, Otani Buddhist University, Kyoto, Japan Far Eastern Studies at Cornell University SINCE the outbreak of World War II, Americans have become aware that the Far East is no longer remote in space or importance and that America’s destiny is inseparable from that of the nations of Eastern and Southern Asia. At a time when Chinese-American relations are worse than they have been for more than a century, China is assuming the position of a great power. Japan has been readmitted to the family of nations after the crushing defeat of her effort to conquer the whole Far East. Russia has undertaken to play a dominant role in Asia. One hun dred and sixty million people in Southeast Asia are emerging from the controls of colonialism, while the United States is striving to keep them from falling under the controls of the Kremlin. India, Pakistan, and Ceylon, freed by the British, pursue their own ways. With all of these the United States is deeply involved in one way or another. Yet Ameri can understanding of Far Eastern peoples and cultures is far from ade quate. There is a dangerous shortage of experts on the Far East. Cornell University has long had a general interest in this area. The Wason Collection of books on the Far East, housed in the University Library, was established in 1920. A general course in Asian history was taught regularly from 1907 to 1933 by the late Nathaniel Schmidt, and courses in Chinese history and Asian anthropology have been offered since the early 1930’s. Now, as a contribution toward meeting current needs, Cornell is concentrating its Far Eastern resources on China, Southeast Asia, and India. Full graduate programs on the first two have been organized. The first aim of these programs is to develop experts on China and Southeast Asia; the second aim is to increase knowledge of these areas through research both on the campus and in the field. The demand for experts on China and on Southeast Asia has grown steadily since 1945. There is need not only for specialists trained in the humanities and in the social sciences, but also for natural scientists and technical personnel who have a knowledge of natural and cultural con ditions in the region and who are therefore prepared more effectively to pursue their technical activities there. The most urgent demand for trained personnel comes from the various departments of the American government and from universities and colleges, but there is also a demand from international agencies, business firms, the press and radio, and mis sionary bodies. A recent check shows that thirty-five of the thirty-eight alumni of the graduate and undergraduate programs of the Cornell De partment of Far Eastern Studies either hold positions having to do with the Far East or are pursuing in the Far East or elsewhere advanced studies relating to that region. Hardly less than the need for trained specialists is the need for research on these two areas. While our knowledge of China greatly exceeds our knowledge of Southeast Asia, so rich and complex is Chinese civilization that much remains to be done. Southeast Asia has been so neglected by both Oriental and Western scholars that there are great gaps in our knowledge of even the most elementary facts. Particularly urgent is the need for systematic, collaborative, and cumulative work in both the humanities and social sciences—work which requires the careful collec tion and evaluation of data from every possible source and using every possible scholarly means. A characteristic feature of the programs described in this pamphlet is that they are “area” programs; that is to say, in each the specialized knowledge and methods of a number of fields or disciplines are brought together and focused on the peoples and cultures of a particular area. This area approach is supplied in the Cornell programs through inter disciplinary courses and seminars in which several professors, represent ing different fields, cooperate. The first area work on the Far East at Cornell was organized in 1942 when courses on China and Southeast Asia were set up to meet the de mand of students who anticipated war service in the Far East. This was followed in 1943-44 by a Chinese Area and Language Program that was operated as a part of the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). In 1946, the Department of Far Eastern Studies was created in the College of Arts and Sciences to bring into the regular curriculum teaching and research methods developed as a result of the ASTP and other similar wartime educational developments at Cornell and else where. This department now administers an undergraduate program in Far Eastern Studies and two graduate programs on China and on Southeast Asia. Graduate Programs on China and Southeast Asia THE graduate programs on China and Southeast Asia, described sepa rately below, have several features in common. The work of the graduate student at Cornell is guided and supervised by a Special Committee made up of professors representing the major and minor subjects in which he elects to concentrate. A candidate for a graduate degree enrolled in the China Program or the Southeast Asia Program must do his major work in one of the recognized disciplines such as anthropology, economics, government, history, linguistics, litera ture, or sociology. (It is in this major field that he receives his degree, since Cornell offers no advanced degrees in Chinese or Southeast Asian area studies as such.) He must do work in Far Eastern Studies as a minor field, and within this field he may elect to concentrate his area study either on China or Southeast Asia. His study in these major and minor fields is coordinated throughout. The integration of discipline with area knowledge is demonstrated in his dissertation, written to satisfy the re quirement for his degree, but on a topic relating to China or Southeast Asia. The requirements of the Far Eastern Studies minor includes a thorough factual